Miami County (Indiana, USA)

Miami County, Indiana was organized as a county in 1834. It was named for the Miami Indians. What is now Howard and Miami counties was part of the Miami Indian Reservation which was created in 1826. The Indians who did not wish to come under civil law were obligated to migrate to Kansas by 1845. Beginning in 1848 Amish settlers from Ohio began to locate in the Howard-Miami area. The first congregation organized was what would now be called Old Order Amish, though it was not until 1854 that the division between the Old Order Amish and the less strict Amish Mennonites occurred in the Howard-Miami area. The latter built their first house of worship (Mennonite Church) in 1871 along the Howard County line, in Section 31 of Harrison Township, Miami County. The membership of this congregation in 1956 was 378. The Old Order Amish have a congregation in Miami County with 32 members, and the Beachy Amish one with 49 members.